India has turned into 'Ram Nagar', no more a secular country: Sheikh Rashid

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad on Tuesday said that India was no more a secular country as it had now become "Ram Nagar" — a Hindu state where the minorities were prohibited to practice their religions.

In a video message, the minister said that the secular state of old times had vanished from the world's landscape, and India was now a country of “Hindutva of Shri Ram”.

Read more: After a year of clampdown, desperation, misery continues in Occupied Kashmir

The minister lamented that the sufferings and the miseries of Kashmiri Muslims had increased after New Delhi abolished Article 370-A of the Indian constitution on August 5 last year — scrapping the special status of the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

Rasheed said that the Muslims across the world, including Pakistan, stand with their Kashmiri brethren and fully support their inherent right to self-determination. 

"The nation of Pakistan was religiously bound to its Muslim brethren of India and Kashmir, and we will not abandon them in their hour of trial," he added.

The minister went on to add that Pakistan strongly condemned the Indian action to build a temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had shown his intention of constructing a Ram Mandir during his visit to Ayodhya about 30 years ago, he said, adding that he [Modi] had now chosen the date to lay its foundation coinciding with the first anniversary of his illegal activities in the disputed region on August 5, last year.

"Every Hindu politician has done politics on the Babri Mosque issue," he regretted.